Monday, November 25, 2013

The 2013 conference and event season draws to a close here at MeetGreen. Our road-weary teams return home and we celebrate a job well done. We are a little older and a little wiser and most importantly, we are grateful.

Grateful for another full year of invigorating opportunities to produce meetings that make a difference.

Grateful for clients who invite us into their "sandbox" and let us play by their sides developing sustainable options not even considered a few years ago.

Grateful for stakeholders not satisfied with the status quo pushing the envelope to better tell their story and vision for the future.

Grateful to meeting venues and vendors working hard to understand and embrace green meetings.

Grateful for their "champions" who sometimes had to convince management and peers of the value of sustainable initiatives.

Grateful for each other and the support we give one another both in the office and on the road. We remember to laugh and have fun, even if we are laughing at ourselves.

Grateful for our families who understand our life's work and are our biggest fans.

and...

Grateful for each of you who get up every morning and strive to do the right thing to make our world a better place. We recognize this isn't always easy and applaud your choices, commitment and passion.

Thursday, November 14, 2013

Getting the word out to conference participants about the sustainable initiatives being done on their behalf is a step that is often missed. Using the conference website, emails and social media are the traditional delivery methods, but there is another...providing this information to a captive audience on the big screen.

Last week, the BSR 2013 Conference organizers served up a helping of fresh data with their meals. That's right, as guests entered lunch and were served, the screens on either side of the stage scrolled through the following facts:

Food served during this event is 90% local or organic. Over 15 different local farms have been used.

Fair trade, organic coffee has been served throughout the conference.

No disposable coffee cups were used saving 112 lbs of waste from the landfill each day of the conference.

Individual bottled water has been eliminated saving enough energy each day to run an American household for 1360 hours.

By minimizing meat selections in meals, 200,000 gallons of water have been saved.

Food waste and kitchen scraps have been composted. Last month, the Hyatt San Francisco composted 3,983 lbs. diverting food waste out of the landfill.

An easy-to-digest opportunity to share information with 1,000 guests who will appreciate knowing the facts.